


Strings of Fate

by hannahkannao



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, More Fluff, a little longer than a drabble, fluff archives, orchestra AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 02:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3792661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahkannao/pseuds/hannahkannao
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short account of the one time Kanji Tatsumi went up to the loft.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strings of Fate

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this lovely little-longer-than-a-drabble back before I had an ao3 account, and someone on tumblr said I should post it, so here you go!
> 
> Also, my best tumblr friend came up with the title because titles are hard to think of and I couldn't think of one for the love of me! (Thanks Kennedy ilysm!!)
> 
> I posted this on mobile, so indents aren't really working, but I'll fix that tomorrow :)

Basses weren’t as heavy as people thought they were. They were hollow, and while they had some weight to them, they weren’t bad.

But they were huge; even Kanji could admit that. Carrying them around was kind of hell, especially through the door of the instrument closet, which was about six inches too short.

Kanji faced the door, eyes narrowed. The door wouldn’t win this time. He wouldn’t slam the scroll against the ceiling like he had the last time. Like he had the last thousand times.

He picked up the bass, one hand gripping the neck, the other on the body, and started walking. Focus, he thought to himself. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

The f sharp came quiet at first, from the upstairs loft. Kanji had never been up there before. Basses were impossible to carry up the spiral staircase. Kanji had tried on multiple occasions, all to no avail.

Kanji guessed that whoever was up there was playing the cello. He had been placed behind the cello section long enough to know the sound. It was elegant, and melodic, and just beautiful in general.

Boom!

The scroll slammed against the top of the doorway. Great work, Tatsumi, Kanji thought, Like you haven’t beaten this thing up enough already.

Whoever was upstairs stopped playing for a second. They were probably worried about the racket from Kanji’s damn bass. After a few seconds, they started playing again.

Kanji put his bass back as quietly as he could, then listened for a while. He didn’t know who was in the loft, but it sounded amazing. That was some serious skill up there.

Before he knew what he was doing, Kanji had started walking towards the staircase. He slowly tiptoed up the stairs, not making a sound as he reached the top.

The loft was small, and the ceilings were short. No wonder the basses never practiced in here; it probably wasn’t high enough. There were two small windows facing outside at the overcast sky, and there were chairs everywhere. It was definitely colder than it was downstairs, and there was one lonely lightbulb trying - and failing - to illuminate the room. It was pretty charming.

But what surprised him the most about the room was the other person inside it. With her cap sitting on her head as usual, Naoto Shirogane seemed to make her cello sing, her fingers flying across the strings. She sat in a chair facing the window, and she didn’t seem to have a music stand in front of her.

Of course she memorized this, Kanji thought, ducking down, She’s a genius.

The stair squeaked as he squatted down.

Crap.

Naoto’s shoulders stiffened as she put her cello down and turned around. Her eyes widened.

“K-Kanji-kun?” she asked, “What are you doing here?” She looked utterly mortified. “How long have you been here?”  
“Thirty seconds, no more,” Kanji said, starting to back down the staircase.

“Why were you here?” Naoto almost looked angry. It was terrifying.

Kanji didn’t want to answer, at least not truthfully. If he did, she’d never look at him the same way again. But if he didn’t, she’d know. And her knowing that he lied to her was possibly worse than her knowing the uncomfortable truth.

“Um, you sounded good,” he said, looking away.

“Th-thank you,” Naoto said, her cheeks turning bright red, “Although I don’t believe that my shifting was executed as well as I hoped”.

“Sounded fine to me,” Kanji said.

Naoto’s cheeks turned even redder.

“It did?” She said, eyes wide, “But my fourth finger was consistently flat, and I didn’t keep a steady tempo, and -”

“Not like anyone’s gonna notice,” Kanji said, “These things are bigger in your head”. Or maybe he was just ignorant. That was always a possibility.

“I may have been exaggerating things,” Naoto said, turning back towards the window, “But I’ll improve them anyway. I would like to give as well-polished a performance as possible”.

“When’s the performance?” Kanji asked.

“It’s a competition in Okina in two weeks”.

“Well, you have two weeks, yeah?” Kanji knew he was saying too much, but he continued anyway. “That’s enough time to polish it up”.

“If I have learned one thing from my experiences,” Naoto said, lifting her cello, “It’s that there is never really enough time”.

“Good to know,” Kanji said, starting to walk down the stairs.

“But thank you for your encouragement, Kanji-kun,” Naoto said.

“No problem.” Kanji reached the bottom of the staircase and walked out of the closet as she started to play again. It sounded amazing.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually the first fanfiction I wraote for two years. Now I'm back on a roll :3


End file.
